High Hopes for Iceland, the Heroes of Euro 2016

SHARE:

With numbers expanded for the tournament, Iceland travelled to France in what most believed to be a team making up the count. Little did we know that just a few weeks after they touched down from a journey spanning near the Arctic Ocean, they would have left as heroes entrenched in European folklore.

Having displayed great spirit with draws against Portugal and Hungary, they culminated their group stage with a last-gasp winner to top Austria, before going one more and doing the unthinkable when they dumped England out at the Round of 16, sending the Three Lions into a tailspin while everyone's eyes turned to what Iceland were about.

With a population south of 350,000, they were the smallest nation to ever appear in the finals of the European Championships. The "underdog" tag didn't cut it. Although, after their campaign, they took on a greater meaning, becoming larger than life characters. All exclaimed by the Viking Thunder-Clap, which will reverberate around the island in the outskirts of the continent for years to come, maybe even in another major tournament at the current rate.

Image: Iceland Mag

Their Euro 2016 journey was testament to the player development set up in Iceland. It was beyond the finals though, with a qualifying campaign that included a double over World Cup semi-finalists the Netherlands somewhat going under the radar. Youth is certainly on their side, with the team promoting youngsters to first team football often, while many are snapped up and move on to bigger clubs, as was the case with national legend Eiður Guðjohnsen.

Additionally, it's not just the players who shoulder all the work load. Lars Lagerbäck and Heimir Hallgrímsson made up the managerial hierarchy by teaming up to take Icelandic football forward. Their ceilings would have been raised from the outset, with the mandatory coaching education required from the football association stretching even to the grassroots level of the game. With the help of technological advances like a plentiful supply of artificial pitches and indoor arenas, "football has changed from a summer league to a full-year sport", as Hallgrímsson told VICE Sports in 2014.

Image: WTOP.com

However, with such a small population, which is halved when you find the number of males eligible, and a number which further decreases over factors such as age, Iceland couldn't exactly cherry-pick their squad. At the end of it all they would be at some sort of limit, yet they tapped that potential and found other ways to thrive. They fielded the same starting lineup throughout the tournament, one which hadn't changed that much from World Cup qualification either, yet continued to improve.

Going back to the basics with a simplistic 4-4-2 formation, along with the X-factor of long throw ins, which even toppled the hosts at one point, the minnows dug deep to promote a team spirit, everyone worked for each other. Their spirit was never deterred, and would only be flourished by the mass support that accompanied them. 8% of their population took over France, while figures nearing 99.8% totalled the proportion of Icelandic citizens watching their triumph over England.

They fell short in World Cup qualification, but then burst on to the scene in the Euro finals. It's a state of ever-growing improvement. Part-time dentist Hallgrímsson will certainly have something to smile about should they succeed in their target of the upcoming Russia World Cup, speaking after their elimination. "Next is the World Cup. We have a tough group and it's tough to be the top team. We could use this and should use this as a brick to build on. That's our task".

Image: GOAL.com

Perhaps the prospect of the clap reverberating around Russia as they flock to a new destination for the World Cup isn't a far-fetched one. Iceland can continue to build on something that hasn't just inspired their people, but the spectators of Europe. If they continue to fight, just as they did against France, managing to put two past them and pressing courageously even when the writing was on the wall, will help them to transcend continuously.

Their heroes welcome with an open-top bus parade when arriving back in the homeland will only just put an emphasis on this all. Legacies have been made and may be further built, because the measures are in place to grow. This could just be the start - we may be hearing the Viking clap for a lot longer in the future.